Jaak’s Cabin – The Valleys

Jaak and Layan finished the last of the coffee as the sun began to rise determinedly above the ridges and tree tops.

After some time rummaging, Jaak appeared back up from the basement, with a toolbox filled with various tools and a long spouted oil can with a push button lever.

The pair then made their way over to the donkey engine and conducted an initial appraisal of their project.

As it turned out the donkey engine despite its age, was in reasonably good shape. Layan observed that all the basic working parts and valves were all still present, saying all it should take is a bit of time to disassemble, clean and then reassemble the engine, to hopefully get it going again.

Together they set about to take apart the engine’s working parts, using the oil to soak into bolts and fittings that had not moved for years. They laid all the parts out onto a flat canvas sheet on the ground. Jaak cleaned the parts first by soaking in paraffin and then cleaning them with a stiff wire brush and some old rags. They worked steadily all morning, with Layan taking the time to carefully explain what each part, fitting and valve did. Jaak was captivated, asking lots of questions, which Layan patiently answered – sometimes asking Jaak questions in turn as to what he thought a certain part or fitting did, or what it was for. Jaak was a quick learner, and was often able to correctly figure out what each piece did.

Finally all the parts had been thoroughly cleaned and carefully laid out on the canvas. Jaak, stood back and admired their progress. Suddenly his stomach growled loudly.

One of Layan’s ears swiveled in Jaak’s direction.

At that moment the sound of a pick-up truck rumbled up the drive. It was Tenzing.

Jaak then went inside the cabin and returned with bread, cheese, cured meats, and pickles. Together they made enormous door stop sandwiches, all washed down with another pot of sweet milky coffee. After lunch they all returned to the disassembled donkey engine.

Layan raised an eyebrow at Tenzing and put on a mock high cultured accent.

Jaak was now starting to get used to Layan’s quirky ways and played along – although he had no idea how to do a silly high cultured accent.

Both Tenzing and Layan chuff-roared with laughter.

Reassembling the donkey engine did not take nearly as long as the disassembly, now all the parts had been cleaned and they had Tenzing to help with the heavier items like the large flywheel. Soon the neat lines of parts on the canvas sheet dwindled, and the donkey engine once again took shape. The winch mechanism was left as it was, – that would not be needed.

Jaak then began to fill the boiler using a hand pump that was fed directly from a pail of water. Several pail loads later the boiler was full.

One thing that the valleys did not lack was a supply of readily available firewood. Jaak soon had a stack of firewood ready to load into the firebox. He carefully stacked in the wood, starting with lighter twigs and tinder in the centre, then progressively heavier logs criss-crossed on top, allowing sufficient gaps for the air to flow once the fire was lit.

Jaak struck a match and lit the fire. The fire quickly caught and began to burn vigorously. However the fire box soon filled with smoke and billowed back out the firebox doorway.

Before Tenzing could even finish his sentence, there was a sudden woosh, and a huge black cloud of smoke and sparks came erupting from the smoke stack. Bits of charred twigs, ash and feathers came raining back down in a sooty shower.

Once the chimney had cleared, the fire took off properly and they spent the next half hour or so feeding the fire more wood to get the water boiling and produce steam. Layan had explained that they would need around 60 PSI of steam pressure in the boiler to run the piston that drove the fly wheel. The pressure on the gauge slowly rose.

Steam began to escape from the pop off valve as the pressure increased in the boiler.

Layan then carefully opened the steam valve that fed the engine’s main piston. Steam then flowed into the piston with a loud hiss, however the piston arm and flywheel didn’t move.

Tenzing gave the flywheel a gentle turn and soon the piston arm started to move back and forth, and the flywheel began to turn. The familiar sound of the steam engine chuff-chuffity-chuff then filled their ears.

The two older cats and one cub all grinned at each other with boyish glee. For a while they happily watched the engine chuff away, and the flywheel spinning.

Before Tenzing could finish, Jaak quietly but firmly interrupted him.

Something about the way Jaak spoke made both the older cats stop and look at Jaak.

Layan raised half an eyebrow. Jaak spoke quietly.

Tenzing walked over to Jaak and put his big lumberjack paw-hand on Jaak’s head and gave it a gentle tousle.

Their moment of shared reverie was broken by the sound of a pick-up truck coming up the road and stopping outside the cabin. The door clunked – and the sound of paw-foot steps approached.

Jaak’s full name was Pukajaak – an Inuit name meaning ‘sugar-like snow’ – but his Dad had always called him PJ.

Jaak almost said – ‘and to charge up my phone’, but caught himself just in time. At the mention of ‘we’ Layan’s whiskers twitched ever so slightly and he suddenly became very interested in putting another log in the firebox.

At this Layan could not avoid Altai any longer without being rude.

Layan motioned a paw-hand towards Jaak.

Altai did not immediately reply, but moved closer to the puffing steam engine and examined each part of it carefully taking particular note of its careful assembly and inspecting its freshly cleaned fittings and valves. He adjusted the speed of the engine faster and slower with the steam valve.

Altai gave a slight chuff and nod of his head.

With that Altai turned and walked back towards the cabin – but he stopped and turned suddenly.

With that he again turned and disappeared into the cabin.

Tenzing turned to Layan.

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Previous – Episode 6 – Donkey
Next – Episode 8 – Kangastralia